To be appalled at the cost of food?

[pinotnow]

I know this has been done to death and we are in a cost of living crisis, but listening to the news they are intimating that it is slowly levelling out and the worst is over. Yes as far as I can see it's spiralling out of control.

I did a Lidl shop this weekend and bought absolutely nothing for main meals as I have a Hello Fresh box for three days coming, boys are going to their dad's for the weekend on Thursday and I have store cupboard stuff in already.

Therefore all I bought was stuff for lunch boxes, snacks, fruit and breakfast cereal. No cleaning stuff, oil or pet food needed this week and one bottle of wine. I thought it would be a bit less than I usually pay (only the second time I've used Hello Fresh) and certainly the trolley wasn't as full.

It came to £78!! Maybe £5 or so less than I have usually paid lately. It's out of control. How on earth are people supposed to manage and when will it stop going up all the bloody time?

@Haematomato I have noticed the same - around £80 to £90 this time last year now I am lucky to get our weekly shop below £120. Interesting you say that about Morrisons as I always thought of them as more expensive than Aldi, although I do like using their click and collect for a treat and when I cannot be bothered going to the shops. We do eat a lot of fruit (not fancy - apples and bananas mostly with grapes and oranges thrown in)

Absolutely agree. I would love to be privileged enough to uphold my ethics during a COL crisis. But I can't afford to.

I absolutely get your point. I don't like animal cruelty either. I buy local farm-produced meat but I am fortunate to be able to afford it. However, I appreciate that lots of families have no choice. It's between eat and not eat - basic survival.

Principles are fine, if you can afford them. Many people can't.

It is insane how much things have gone up. Last year we were spending £45-50 per week. Now it’s around £65-70 — and that’s with us buying lunches most days (don’t have kids and can afford it, I know it’s a luxury though).

@minimadgirl you can get some food products on the NHS for food intolerances/allergies so maybe worth asking your GP or local chemist.

No it doesn't if i want to eat the meat I have to come to terms with I would have to kill it if its not readily available. A lot of my work colleagues are immigrants and they were complaining you cannot get hold of chickens easily here to rear and slaughter yourself. Apparently it tastes much better and the satisfaction of doing it yourself is much higher.

I think a lot of people have become detached from eating meat and dairy. It just arrives on the supermarket shelves. I do live rurally near farms so it is more normal to me.

Don’t know about pretentious and vile. The self congratulatory superiority complex just comes across as a bit embarrassing. Like trying too hard. Anyway, read the room. Most people don’t have the time or the energy or the inclination to get on their high horse (is that animal cruelty too?) and wag their finger at others. They are simply trying to get by. Your lecturing comes across as bit unhinged.

We shop at Aldi and Lidl. We thought about the app but decided didn’t want our data ‘out there’.
However, how much did you have to spend to get the £2 voucher, if it’s worth it I’ll do it.

"Some" profiteering

It's almost ALL profiteering they're doing it cos they can at this point . Sane with the energy companies

they're cheeky bastards and need stopping

Exactly, if it is normal and not an ethical dilemma for you, I understand. Vegetarian having been brought up in poorish/ eat the whole animal times.

Oh, unhinged. Of course. Don't be daft.

Where's the self-congratulation?

I objected to the poster who said they didn't care about animal cruelty. It's pretty basic stuff.

Guys everyone just needs to accept they are poorer and stop asking for payrises.

There was an article in the latest money week about price gouging (or greedflation as they were calling it). I found it interesting that companies are known to use the news to get away with raising prices. So if wheat shortages are all over the papers they can/will react and raise prices because consumers are expecting it.

Local farmshop meat organic produce costs a fortune. We are a high earning family and I still balk at paying £18 for an organic chicken. Most people wouldn't. I could get a kilo of salmon fillets or lamb leg for the same price. Meat substitutes are expensive the good ones anyway compared to the price of your bog standard meat.

I would go without eggs if there was only battery eggs available, the conditions those hens are kept in is horrifying.

There's a small number of posters who are convinced that they're speaking for 'the thread.' They're not. Even poor people give a shit about animal welfare, but some can't process the fact.

Yep, same.

There's a few posters who can't understand having little money doesn't HAVE to wipe out basic compassion.

I think a good majority of humans are self serving and put themselves over animals. If its a choice between never eating a chicken again or eating them raised in poorer conditions many would choose the latter. They are detached from the process it just arrives in plastic packaging on the supermarket shelves. A friend of mine complained in a restaurant because there was a tiny pinfeather in her chicken. She said it was disgusting, I told her just pull it out , it was a living thing of course there's going to be evidence of that sometimes.

This. Totally.

Try going to America. Food here is dirt cheap compared to how much it’s risen there. Even in the cheaper supeermarkets it’s 2-3x more on everything than we pay. Mental.

What I've found living abroad is that it's not the price, it's the range of products on offer.
In the UK we'll have one item from a range of suppliers and prices.
Take pasta, you can get a pack for 40p or £2. This range of products just isn't available in many countries so everyone ends up buying the same pasta at the same price regardless of their income.

In fact I find this is Lidl. and Aldi which is why I don't shop there. I usually end up spending more.

The ‘large’ single bags of crisps are shrinking so much that pretty soon they will end up being the same size as a regular bag of crisps.

Yes I do actually.
Food over there is around 2-3x more expensive than ours at the moment comparing similar supermarkets.
wages are certainly NOT 2-3x more than here generally speaking.
We have had extremely cheap food for ages. Now we just have cheap food. If you went there you would be shocked.

@FrenchandSaunders we had loads of chips and had one small and one large fish shared between 2 with mushy peas for two of us and it was enough. Maybe it’s a regional thing.